Like the one to prosecute PC Lee Armstrong of West Yorkshire Police for allegedly assaulting a prisoner.

In December 2005 the officer was sent to an incident in a shop in Keighley, West Yorkshire, where a man with a knife was threatening a female.

The officer arrested the male while onlookers shouted abuse at the policeman.

All was well & good, or so the officer thought, until 4 months later when he was contacted out of the blue & interviewed under caution. He was charged with assaulting the knifeman during the arrest & subsequently elected trial by jury where he pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The judge, Jonathan Durham Hall, told the prosecutor that "there was never any prospect at all of this gallant young officer being convicted," He added, "the prosecution of yet another man doing his duty, for reasons that are best described as politically correct, is a disgrace." He awarded costs against the prosecution meaning they will fork out around 16 grand to the defence.

The judge also praised the officer for his bravery in arresting the knifeman. He said, "I cannot imagine what you have felt being pursued & harassed in this prosecution over the last few months & I am very sorry."

So that’s another £16,000 of tax payers’ money for the officer’s defence fees plus all the thousands and thousands it took to investigate the matter and bring it to crown court. Will anyone from the CPS or West Yorkshire’s Professional Standards department carry the can? Of course not, they never do.

3 comments

Vicki says:

I love the way the CPS couldn’t care less about a genuine victim of domestic violence who plucks up all her courage to finally attend court. They send an agency lawer who hasn’t even read the MG5 let alone any statements.
Contrast that with the prosecution of a police officer. This will always get the local CPS reading every last sentance of the file and a couple of the local lawers will attend court.
I spoke to the head of our local CPS who told me that they use agency lawers now for everything, except deaths and of course prosecution of police officers.

October 18th, 2007 at
15:50

there but for the... says:

Don’t you wish that judge was there when…..

October 19th, 2007 at
00:58

Reactively Proactive says:

Everybody knows police brutality is a massive problem. The only problem CPS and C+D has is they can never seem to find it for some strange reason. Don’t know how when it is clearly going on throughout every incident we attend.
When they sense even the slightest possiblity of anything slightly suspicious they go the whole hog and prosecute for all their worth to prove they are doinf something about this huge problem.